Chevron Nigeria announces appointment of Richard Kennedy as Chairman/MD

Chevron Nigeria Limited (CNL), operator of the joint venture between the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) and CNL (the NNPC/CNL JV), has announced the appointment of Mr Richard Kennedy to the position of Chairman and Managing Director of the oil and gas giant, with effect from November 1, 2020.

According to Punch, the disclosure was made in a statement signed by Chevron Nigeria’s General Manager, Policy, Government and Public Affairs, Esimaje Brikinn, on Wednesday, November 4, 2020.

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Brikinn in the statement pointed out that until his appointment, Kennedy was the Director, Deepwater and Production Sharing Contracts, in charge of the company’s deepwater portfolio and assets.

Chevron Nigeria Limited stated that Kennedy replaced the former Chairman and Managing Director, Jeffrey Ewing, who recently moved into a new role in Chevron’s Middle East, Africa, and South America Region.

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The statement said that Kennedy graduated with a bachelor’s degree in Petroleum Engineering from Texas A&M University in 1984 and joined Chevron in the same year as a production/reservoir engineer.

“Since then, he has held numerous technical and leadership positions of increasing responsibility within Chevron’s Upstream, Midstream, and Technical Center segments. He has lived and worked in Canada, Indonesia, The Partitioned Zone, Nigeria, and the United States in the course of his Chevron career,” the statement added.

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Kennedy’s appointment is coming at a time the oil major is facing opposition from the petroleum worker’s union over its plan to cut down its workforce by 25% as it reviews its manpower requirements in light of the changing business environment.

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This is in addition to the challenging times for the global oil and gas industry with oil companies reporting a drop in revenues and record losses due to the devastating impact of the coronavirus pandemic on the sector.